Thursday, January 22, 2015

Imagine you are standing on a
basketball court and a physically fit young man comes dribbling up to you. He
stands in front of you, a few feet away. His arms are slender yet well defined,
his height is suitable to play multiple positions; he’s not too tall - neither
too short. Later, when you watch him play against opponents within his level of
competition, he fares reasonably well. Although he can score, he is limited in
the way he scores the basketball. He tends to dribble to the right and stop
right at the edge of the free throw line, rising over a typically smaller
defender to sink the jump shot. Wherever he is on the court, this is the move
he will perform – a hard couple of dribbles to the right followed by a quick
pull-up. This method has worked for him for years.

From the baseline: look
left, hard two dribbles to the right and pull-up. From the top of the
three-point line: look left, hard two dribbles to the right and pull-up. From
inside the paint, just under the basket: look left, hard two dribbles to the
right and pull-up. Every time and from every place on the court: look left,
hard two dribbles to the right and pull-up. This method has a problem, however.

If the defender can account for his move and stand ready to block him from
going to his right; if the defender is taller and can jump higher than the
young man, then he will be continually frustrated when trying to score. This is
the same issue that crops up into a classroom as it relates to literacy
instruction or any other kind of instruction.

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The young basketball player is your
average traditionally under-served or marginalized student. He has developed one
‘go-to’ skill for navigating school and classroom life. This limited skill set
only allows him to access texts, ideas and themes in a narrow context. He does
know, however, in depth the rules of basketball, but has not developed a
skill-set for scoring the ball around defenders who are taller and more
athletic. The defenders represent more difficult texts, increased writing
demands, the school system and the larger power structure of society.

Culturally responsive instruction is what provides him that missing skill-set.
Culturally responsive instruction takes his in depth knowledge of the rules of
basketball and asks him to apply that conceptual understanding to developing
ways around and over the obstacle of a taller and more athletic defender.

Culturally responsive instruction gives him a left-hand dribble. A cross-over
and step-back move. A low-post game. An off-the dribble three-point shot. A
floater. A leaner. A hard-drive and pull-up. A high-post, reverse-inside pivot
face-up, pump fake and drive. It gives him multiple moves around the taller,
more athletic defenders in his life. It invites him to see that his critical
mind in his out of school life can also be applied to his life inside school, giving
him the power to control the sport that he plays instead of being
a one-move ‘spectator.’ A one-trick pony.